Think of the films of Martin McDonagh and the term 'strong women' probably doesn't spring to mind. His third feature. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, could even be misconstrued as a box-ticking exercise, given that it arrives off the back of two decidedly male-centric movies, In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths, at a time when female narratives are in high demand. And yet complex, compelling heroines have been a fixture of McDonagh's work from the very start - his debut play from 1996. 'The Beauty Queen of Leenane' centres on the destructive relationship between a depressive forty-something and her manipulative elderly mother.

McDonaugh wrote the movie eight year ago, and always had Frances McDormand in mind for the lead role, she thought it was unlikely that a blue-collar mom in her late fifties from southern Missouri would have teenage kids. Here's the thing about Mildred Hayes though: she's not like other people As with McDormand herself, she does things a little differently playing by her own rules and defying anyone with the gall to try and second guess her next move.